Don't fall in Love with Ace Queen

I always say that the game of poker is played out in cycles. Some of those cycles can be very positive and others can be absolutely ridiculous and you wonder how the trend started. We have seen the trend of pushing all in while holding Ace King. We have seen the current trend of minimum raising with Pocket Aces, Pocket Kings and Pocket Queens. We have also witnessed minimum raising with medium and small pairs which continues to be a popular strategy today.

However, I have noticed that many online poker players are playing less than optimum strategy when it comes to their tournament play. They are over playing Ace Queen which just a couple of years ago was a given no no. One of the most interesting things about watching the trends is how many of them go against the mathematics of the game and yet, for some poker players, can be very successful for a handful of players. I am by no means suggesting that getting your chips in the middle early in a poker tournament pre-flop with Ace Queen is the optimal play. However, if you are very familiar with your opponents and willing to take major risks then I suppose it can work for you to take down a few pots without contention.

The problem with this thinking is that raising and re-raising with Ace Queen is usually going to get you busted because the only hands that are calling are [A][K],[Q][Q], [K][K] and [A][A]. So give that some thought the next time you decide to re-raise early in a tournament with Ace Queen.

You can do better.